Should we fear God?
The answer is both “yes” and “no.” And, I believe that the “yes” answer goes for Christians, just as the “no” answer goes also for the person who is not God’s child through belief in and acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation. Here’s what I mean:
God is a perfect Father. He corrects His own, and that can sometimes be painful –although never deadly, in the eternal sense. The Scripture says:
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb. 12:6).
In that sense, the child of God should give fearful respect to his Father and obey the Father’s Word. This Scripture, of course, means sons and daughters alike. We need not fear if we obey His will. He wants to give us only the best things, and, He knows what is best for His children.
For the lost –that is, those people who are not God’s children—there is great reason to fear. They must stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment, if they fail to come into His family before they die. God can accept no sin whatever into Heaven for eternity with Him. That’s why God sent His only begotten Son as a perfect sacrifice at Calvary –to cover all sin of those who will but accept that sacrifice, and repent.
On the other hand, the lost need not fear coming before the Throne to ask forgiveness of their sin through the shed blood of Jesus. God’s arms are open wide. He wants more than anything to accept sinners, forgive them, and take them into His family forever. This is His great, unfathomable love for all of His creation called man.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
Should we fear God? The Bible says specifically, in answer to that question: “The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever” (Ps.111:10).
